


Gold Upon the Sea

by GreenBunny



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Post-Evolution-R
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:42:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenBunny/pseuds/GreenBunny
Summary: Lina and the gang are sucked into another world teetering on the edge of change. Choices will be made, lives will be changed. Memories once lost will be found anew.
Relationships: Gourry Gabriev/Lina Inverse, Zelgadis Greywords/Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Gold Upon the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Well. It sure has been a while. Normally, I'm too busy to write because I have a small child haunting my footsteps. However, since I am an essential worker, I've had to send her off somewhere safe to ride out the apocalypse. Needing something to do while I miss my baby... well, here I am. I hope you guys like it.
> 
> Also, I have NO FREAKING CLUE how to format this so it looks pretty in AO3. If anyone knows how to make this web-pretty PLEASE message me and I will send you the word document.

Children were the bane of Lina’s existence.

  
Or so it seemed to Gourry.

  
Almost any child they happened upon seemed to have it in for her in one way or another. Stealing her food, calling her names, trying to kill her--especially the ones who wound up being mazoku. Those kids always tried to kill her.   
Just before the gang had parted ways with the stuffed-animal-guy-who-wasn’t-an-animal-guy-anymore-but-wasn’t-a-kid-anymore, he had mentioned a nearby town with a famous healing hot spring. Amelia and Lina were gone in a cloud of dust before Poko-What’s-His-Face could finish giving them directions. They found it all right anyway, unfortunately. 

  
No one got blown up while Lina was bathing. It was a miracle, made mostly possible because of the hot spring owners’ son, who waited on the sorceress hand and foot. It helped that he seemed appropriately fearful of her mighty temper. Her reputation always preceded her.

  
She was busy lecturing him (again) while she pulled on her various accessories. Cheeks flushed from a grand soak, her hair framing her face in a radiant copper halo.   
As she tied her headband back into place he couldn’t help but mention to her how glad he was to see her hair back to its’ normal color. It was prettier than white. Lina’s hands had fumbled on the tie in her headband, nearly dropping it. She coughed and gave the ends a sharp tug to bring the fabric into place.

  
“Jellyfish.” 

  
One word she uttered. Just one before she was overcome. The blood had drained from her face in an instant, an unholy shriek followed as she clutched her head in her ungloved hands. The runes carefully stitched into the fabric glowed purple between her fingers. He tried to reach for her to see what was wrong but as he did so her palm touched his breastplate. Before he could scarcely take a breath he was blown through the front doors of the public bath and out into the street. He could only thank Ceipheid that she had used a wind spell instead of a fireball. At that close of range he would have had more than just the air knocked out of him.   
The suffocating feeling of having the breath ripped from his lungs was replaced with dread as he heard her voice chant the very thing he had in mind. He hurled himself away just in time to see ground erupt in flames by his side. The heat of the fire seared his cheek and shoulder but he ignored the painful protests of his body as he heaved himself over again and pushed off from the dirt.

  
As he looked up he could see several flare arrows rocketing towards him; too fast for him to dodge. He pulled his arms up in a cross over his face, hoping to Ceipheid his gauntlets would take the brunt of the damage. 

  
“Ballast Wall!” 

  
Light blazed to life before him as the arrows impacted. They were so close he could feel a gentle warmth from them through the magical barrier. Gourry exhaled a breath he hadn’t meant to hold and turned his head towards where he could sense the source of the wall’s power.

  
“Whew, almost didn’t make it there, Mister Gourry.” The raven-haired shamanist wiped faux sweat from her brow.

  
“Amelia, quick! Something’s wrong with Li—“

  
The ground exploded around Amelia in a mass of stone spikes. The princess had time to emit a shrill shriek before she vanished in a cloud of dust. The barrier fizzled out but Gourry was already on the move, running towards the jagged rocks that hid his friend. 

  
Movement in his peripheral vision caught his eye and he spun around just in time to see Lina hurl flare arrows at two figures zipping through the air at breakneck speeds. He released a breath. Amelia was safe; Zelgadiss had made it to her in time.   
The two swooped in towards the redhead. The scent of molten copper intensified, along with a vague sensation of impending doom. It was the same feeling he always received right before she cast… No! No time to think!

  
“Amelia, Zel, get out of there! She’s going to cast a Dragon Slave!”

Lina’s eyes closed as she lifted her arms outward to build her energy, her voice amplified as she began her chant. Amelia broke off in one direction immediately, while Zel dropped his Ray Wing entirely and dropped towards her.   
Gourry pounded the dirt to catch up to his friend. The chimera was far too close to be missed when Lina inevitably fired the Dragon Slave but perhaps he could get close enough to catch him when he got blown back. He sent a prayer to the heavens that his stone skin was thick enough to withstand that kind of damage. 

The chimera was nearly on top of her now, hurtling towards her at breakneck speed. At such close range, Lina’s magic could blow them both up! Gourry heard Amelia shout something but couldn’t understand. The ruby orb in Lina’s palms was so close it made the dark stones on Zelgadiss’ face glimmer black like onyx. Lina’s eyes popped open.

And the spell fizzled out. Zelgadiss touched down safely at her side, his hand pressed into her shoulder. 

The flame-haired sorceress blinked at her friend. “Shadow snap?”

The chimera grinned. “Had to think of something quick.”

Her eyes widened and she reached out to grip his sleeve. “Quick, Zel, destroy my headband I’m—“

Zelgadiss had just enough time for his fingertips to brush the edges of her headband before he was blown back. His body bounced once against the ground and skidded a few feet before landing in a heap some meters away. 

Lina curled her body inward, magic crackling around her. It dissipated a second later and she straightened with a smile. 

“So close, humans!” She cackled. 

“You’re not Miss Lina!” Amelia cried as she knelt near a stunned, but otherwise unharmed, Zelgadiss.

“So right you are, Little Princess.” A figure materialized beside Lina’s hunched form, long, pale fingers threaded through the hair at the top of her head.

“Who are you and why are you controlling Miss Lina?” Amelia sounded strained as she struggled to help the chimera back up into a standing position. 

“I’m glad you asked.” 

He—or was it she? Gourry couldn’t tell—stroked the fiery red strands almost lovingly as he spoke. The swordsman didn’t bother to pay attention. Lina, Zel, and Amelia always had the boring stuff covered. It was generally a bunch of ‘blah blah power hungry, blah blah take over the world’ stuff, anyway.   
Instead, he focused on the enemy as a person. Gourry decided to identify the monster as a ‘he’ for his own ease of mind. Chivalry really didn’t permit him to fight too many women. The monster didn’t look very threatening; he was slight, almost gaunt, with long green hair flowing freely down to the middle of his back where it was tucked into a complicated knot at the end. There was no armor to speak of; his clothing was a mix of feminine and masculine touches. His flat chest was covered in a sleeveless midnight blue fabric, the collar reached high on his neck and was encrusted with jewels at the dip in his throat. A skirt of multicolored rags in varying types of fabric fluttered in the wind Lina generated with a barrier spell.   
Yet, he felt dangerous. Not just in the fact that he was a monster had paid a child to do dirty work that would have gotten him killed or controlling one of the most powerful sorceresses Gourry had ever met, but something else, too. It wasn’t a sensation Gourry felt often or could fully explain. He simply knew he couldn’t play around with an enemy like him. The thing gave off the same unpleasant vibe as Xelloss. Not quite as strong, but there all the same. 

“Enough talk, let’s try this spell on for size!”

That was Gourry’s cue to pay attention. The monster’s image blurred, then vanished. Lina slowly rose to feet, palms turned to the sky. Dust began to lift and turn at her feet slowly as she drew in the energy necessary to cast her next spell. The mid-day sun, unfettered by clouds seemed to dim slightly as her hands came together, one raised slightly above the other. Black lightning crackled between her palms as his stomach dropped. He wasn’t familiar with her words, but the overwhelming sensation of immense power was easy for him to recall.

“Ragna Blade!”

Gourry darted forward just as the blade materialized, sending a quick prayer to whatever deity could survive her spell. She swung at him with a feral grin. He dodged and parried as quickly and lightly as he could. Forcing her to direct her attention on him, never landing a hard blow and risk dispelling the light from his own sword. Distract! Distract! Distract!

“Now, Amelia!” 

Gourry cried as he swung down hard. Their blades met with a boom as he focused every last breath of his energy into pulling Lina’s magic into the Sword of Light. It wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t. But if it gave Amelia a chance (and if she understood him) then maybe, just maybe, they could get Lina back. The Ragna Blade crackled against the whir of his sword. Light and shadow danced fluidly between them. Between the wisps of purple-flecked darkness he could see a trickle of blood slide down the corner of Lina’s lips. Her body wouldn’t take much more abuse from the Blade. He was running out of time.

“Elmekia Lance!” 

Light exploded around them. Gourry felt little more than a curious tingly sensation but Lina gave an inhuman shriek and was thrown back. Her shadowed form split into two as the monster was ejected from her mind. The Ragna Blade dissipated in an instant and his Sword of Light, suddenly devoid of pressure, blinked out. He took one step forward, then dropped to a knee, his breath wheezed out in ragged gasps. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zelgadiss charge past him, sword drawn and glowing bloody red. Instinct clawed at him from some base part of his mind, urging him to follow. Using his knee as leverage, Gourry hauled himself back up to his feet and loped after his friend.

He watched Zelgadiss arrive first and rip Lina’s headband from her brow. It emitted a dark hiss when he drove his dagger through the offending garment and deep into the dirt. Gourry pushed himself to move faster as hope fluttered faintly.   
The swordsman scrabbled to a stop next to Lina’s prone form, then winced at what he saw. Her eyes were closed and blood bubbled at her lips and trickled out of her nose. To keep her from suffocating on her own blood, he turned her on to her side to let it all drain out. 

  
“Amelia, come quick!” Panic drew his voice high and reedy.

He felt blessed warmth at his side as the princess slid down beside him. White light hummed to life, illuminating Lina’s pale face and turning her blood a sickly shade of black. Lying there, it stuck him how tiny she truly was. The hand on her shoulder seemed to overwhelm it with its largeness. She didn’t act small when she was awake. Her personality was so huge, so bright, it absorbed all the space around it. He closed his eyes at the thought. The absence of her light made the situation all the more frightening; a crushing vacuum left behind in her wake.

  
“Darkness beyond blackest pitch.”

  
“M-Miss Lina? Wh-Why?” 

  
Amelia’s strangled gasp drew his eyes open. Lina was up and awake, ruby eyes cast away from him, a loving smile quirked the edges of her lips as her fingers gripped the hilt of her dagger and pushed. A red halo bloomed around Amelia’s side. Zelgadiss’s horrified shout could be heard in the background. 

  
“ _Deeper than the deepest night._ ”

  
Gourry reacted, he whipped an arm out to grab up the princess, wincing when heat lanced along his forearm. He pulled her to him, ignoring her pained cry as he threw them both away from the sorceress. 

  
“ _King of Darkness who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos._ ”

  
Her voice was all around him, booming. It was all he could hear between the roaring in his ears and pulsing blood seeping between his fingers. His eyes locked on Lina’s shadowy form in the center of a raging dust vortex. 

  
“ _I call upon thee and swear myself to thee_ ”

  
Cold hands clapped over top his, pulling at Amelia. For a moment he resisted, until he felt the scrape of stone against his armor. Gourry only heard a third of the healing chant, the roaring winds whipped the words away just as fast as the chimera could say them. Light flared to life, warmth trickled into the swordsman’s fingertips and crawled along his burned hand. With a curse he snatched his hands away. Amelia would need every ounce of Zel’s magic; and it wasn’t particularly discerning on the intended target. Pain roared back to life.

  
The world grew dark.

  
He thought he might be passing out from blood loss. The roaring in his ears had reached a crescendo, then buffered, as if a blanket had been thrown over his head. Or was it the spell stealing the very sound from the world?   
His eyes widened. The spell! He had to get to her!

  
Gourry wasn’t sure how he had managed to his feet or when but the way the dirt needled his cheeks told him he was already on the move. The color was bleeding away from the world as he pushed his aching body against the wind. The ebony orb hovering between her fingers flickered gold. His good arm reached out for her, caught the edge of her cape, then lost it again as it was ripped away in the storm.

  
_“Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess_.”

His fingertips brushed the chilled skin of her wrist just in time to watch the orb pulse once, then shimmer from black to brightest sunlight.

He knew he was too late.

The world blinked out of existence.

_“Giga Slave!”_


End file.
